The Kansas Senate has rejected a proposal for encouraging the state to provide long-acting birth control to poor residents after a Republican member likened it to the discredited 20th Century eugenics movement that sought to control who could have children.
Democratic Sen. Marci Francisco of Lawrence offered the proposal Thursday as an amendment to a bill that would permanently block the state from sending federal family planning dollars for non-abortion services to Planned Parenthood. Her amendment failed on a voice vote.
Francisco said her proposal would have reduced unintended pregnancies and abortions among young women.
But Republican Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook of Shawnee said such efforts target minorities and likened the proposal to eugenics.
The Senate then gave the bill first-round approval on a voice vote, setting up final action Tuesday.
